The Story of Temple Drake

1933. USA. Directed by Stephen Roberts. Screenplay by Oliver H.P. Garrett. With Miriam Hopkins, Jack LaRue, William Gargan. Based on William Faulkner’s controversial 1931 novel Sanctuary, this steamy Paramount melodrama triggered church boycotts and stricter enforcement of the Hays Production Code with its risqué tale of a society girl who is brutalized by an “unsatisfied” gangster. Pulled from theaters almost instantly after its release, the film has been largely unseen for many decades. Miriam Hopkins gives one of the great “lost” performances in Hollywood history, and Karl Struss’s cinematography looks ravishing in this restoration by The Museum of Modern Art, which was created using original camera nitrate material with partial funding from Turner Classic Movies. 70 min.

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